Is Male a Degree above Female in Status? Part 2

Quran: A Manifestos of Woman’s Rights

In pre-Islamic Arabia, there was despising for females[i]. There was preference for males’ births and hatred for females. Parents were sad on birth of daughter[ii]. Infant daughters were considered a blemish[iii] and were buried alive.[iv] Women were inherited as goods (4:19) and were denied the good things of life (6:139). Quran abolished all these sexist practices. Islam allowed women to posses and exercise full control over their wealth and guaranteed the women the right to inherit and bequeath property; strict limits were placed on polygamy, and women were allowed to keep their dowry[v]. Equal human dignity by birth was proclaimed as Divine Decree[vi]. Gender equity is the basic theme of the Scripture[vii]. A woman is also under the same ethical obligations as men in respect of her social duties for society (16:97). Both will equally rewarded for their works[viii]. Superiority is determined by righteousness of character and not by gender, race, color, lineage, wealth etc. (49:13). Security of faith, life, honor, and property of each individual are basic human rights which are inviolable[ix]. Everybody has a right to choose a spouse[x]. Freedom of expression[xi], redress of grievances (4:148), right of privacy[xii], presumption of innocence until proved otherwise (49:6), sanctity of name and linage[xiii], right of residence[xiv], rights to aesthetic choice[xv], protection of chastity[xvi] etc. are the rights of both genders. Marriage is considered as a ‘misaq”, a sacred agreement, a sacred contract[xvii]. The Quran is very clear that that the basis of marital relationship is love and affection between the spouses, not power or control. Marital rape is unacceptable in such a relationship[xviii]. The household affairs should be conducted based on consultative process between the spouses, and not autocratically (2:233).

There is striking difference between what can be safely inferred from the Quran itself and what has frequently been ascribed to it[xix]. God who rejects sex and gender as criteria for judgment cannot then teach the oppression of women. Thus, patriarchy is not inherent in the Quran but rather has been read into it throughout the centuries of patriarchal dominance of Muslim societies.

It is morally and socially unacceptable to support a system whereby half of all the human beings that God has created are prevented from engaging in religious thought and leadership. If we understand our God as the Just (Adil) and the Compassionate (al-Rahman), it is morally repugnant and irrational to believe that God would have designated half of its human creation automatically subservient to the other half. The Quranic concept of justice strongly negates any sense of injustice to be attributed to God[xx]. All human beings are equal before God except in the quality of ‘taqwa’ or God-consciousness[xxi]. In the Quran, no difference whatever is made between sexes in relation to God[xxii]. Religiously speaking, men and women have absolute parity, whoever does good deeds, whether male or female, while being believers, shall enter paradise[xxiii]. It is mentioned in the Quran that women not only expresses their opinions freely in the Prophet’s presence abut also argued and participated in serious discussions with him (58:1). The Quran reproached those who believe woman to be inferior to men[xxiv] and repeatedly gives expression to the need for treating men and women with equality[xxv]. If she commits any civil offence, her penalty is no less or no more than a man’s similar case[xxvi]. If she is wronged or harmed, she is entitled to compensation just like a man[xxvii]. God created two different and distinct genders as a pair[xxviii]. The male is different from the female (3:36) although ultimately both are from the same source[xxix].

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[i] Quran 6:137, 6:140, 6:151, 17:31, 60:12, 81:8-9, 16:58-59

[ii] Quran 16:58-59, 43:17

[iii] Quran 16:58-59, 43:17

[iv] Quran 6:137, 6:140, 6:151, 16:58-59, 17:31, 60:12, 81:8-9

[v] Quran 4:32, 4:11-12, 4:3, 2:236

[vi] Quran 17:70, 95:4

[vii] Quran 4:32, 33:35, 3:195, 4:124, 16:97, 40:40, 6:139-140, 2:232

[viii] Quran 4:124, 16:97

[ix] Quran 2:256, 6:109, 6:152, 2:269, 17:36, 24:2, 22:40, 5:90, 2:195, 5:32, 17:32, 17:35, 17:29, 83:1

[x] Quran 4:3, 4:19

[xi] Quran 2:42, 3:71

[xii] Quran 33:35, 24:27

[xiii] Quran 49:11, 33:4

[xiv] Quran 4:100, 2:85, 6:41

[xv] Quran 18:31, 76:13-15

[xvi] Quran 17:32, 24:2

[xvii] Quran 4:21

[xviii] Quran 2:223, 30:21, 2:187, 4:19

[xix] Neal Robinson, Discovering the Quran, SCM Press: London, 1996, p.29

[xx] Quran 2:57, 3:117, 7:91, 9:36, 10:44, 16:33, 18:49, 29:40

[xxi] Quran 33:35, 9:71, 3:195, 16:97, 40:40, 49:13

[xxii] Quran 33:35, 16:97, 2:195, 4:124, 9:71-72

[xxiii] Quran 4:128, 40:40, 16:97

[xxiv] Quran 16:57-59

[xxv] Quran 2:228, 4:19

[xxvi] Quran 5:83, 24:2

[xxvii] Quran 4:92-93

[xxviii] Quran 75:39, 53:45, 92:3

[xxix] Quran 4:1, 7:189, 16:72, 30:12, 39:6